Its What You Do That Defines You!

The Circle of Marketing
“Its not what you are underneath. Its what you do that defines you!” This quote from Batman Begins is telling. In generations past “what you are underneath” was the most important part of ones character - but no longer. Do you identify with this sentiment or the former? How about your customers.

As the face of marketing changes are you ready to change with it? As it turns out, younger generations do not identify with “what you are underneath” in a brand personality. They, instead, identify with and support businesses that are active in the community. They believe “Its what you do that defines you!” And it is that kind of business that they choose to be most loyal to.

My studies on marketing and branding have lead me to explore this shift in philosophies. Currently I call this study “The Circle of Marketing.” I believe that the hand of marketing must be expanded to all activities a business involves in.

There are six points that make up my theory—The Circle of Marketing. They are:
Hiring, Employee Training, Customer Experience Management, Internal Marketing Strategies and Relationship Building.

1. Hiring. Who you hire - their attitudes, how they serve in the community and their commitment to lifelong learning is key to your business’s success. These are the main qualities to look for when hiring.

2. Employee Training. What is your commitment to and investment into the training of your employees? Not entirely for your success alone either… but for their success too. This will create greater commitment from the employee and improve productivity too.

3. Customer Experience Management (CEM). From the first impression to their last buying experience these interactions must be planned for and evaluated for success. Employees must be continually trained on how to provide a lasting positive experience. And that training must be benchmarked against internal marketing strategies to make sure the experience is what is expected.

4. Developing Internal Marketing Strategies (IMS). IMS are the first steps of marketing. They build on steps one and two above, the help you as a business meet, greet and sell better to your customers.

In this step you create programs that lower the buying risk your customers feel when deciding whether or not to buy from you. Customers need aesthetics, meaning, and efficiency to feel comfortable with a brand. Some programs that facilitate this are: a win-back program, a traffic-building program, a top customer program, a customer loyalty program and a database of customers program.

5. Advertising/Direct Marketing. Traditional advertising is becoming less and less affective because we choose to ignore it. This requires new approaches to the way you advertise. It has become more effective in many instances to incorporate the best practices of direct marketing into your marketing plan - are you?

6. Relationship Building. Relationship building is the glue that brings each of these points together. It prepares your customer to buy more products more often and for higher profits.

As you can see each of these strategies is in fact connected. When you connect them in your business you will do more business.

Not To-Do List

“Success is the number of options you create for yourself!”
—Anil Menon, IBM

Recently, I was talking with Michael about the top 7 time wasters in Corporate America... According to Peter Drucker they are:
1) Interruptions,
2) Procrastination,
3) Meetings,
4) Poor Planning,
5) Socializing
6) Waiting for Answers &
7) Shifting Priorities

This lead us on a discussion that ended with To-Do Lists & Not To-Do Lists and that brings me to today’s point.

To improve your skills it is important to make smarter decisions. One way to do this is to keep a To-Do list, but for this brief conversation lets talk about a Not To-Do list.

A Not To-Do list is a guiding document that keeps you from making mistakes in your life or on the job. What are some of the things that you would put on your Not To-Do list?

Some that find themselves on my professional list are:
1) Do not send a document without proofing it.
2) Do not send a document without checking your references.
3) Do not put my personal opinion above my professional opinions.

Items such as these help create additional options for yourself. BTW, learning how to be a "follower" is another vital skill most are unwilling to master and one that will make you a leader of powerful influence...

Profits That Lie Hidden in Your Business…

How To Significantly Increase Your Direct Marketing Response Rates

The effectiveness of graphic design is easily seen when you recognize the power that the hierarchy of recognition and icons have on the buying decisions of your customers. Following describes the hierarchy or recognition and defines each of the elements of it.

Hierarchy of Recognition
The human mind recognizes items in distinct patterns and order. Failing to know and utilize them will diminish your ability to sell your products and services. Ignoring the hierarchy will dramatically decrease your pieces productiveness. In a crowded market place it is vital to own a color, a shape, a number and a word! The first item of recognition is color. The second item of recognition is shape. The third item of recognition is numbers. And the last item the mind recognizes is words. Use color, shape and numbers to intrigue the mind before you use words.
Color
Color is the first item recognized by the human brain. Make sure your marketing piece is consistent with your brand and uses color to reinforce your message. Weak color choices will subconsciously weaken your message. Action and emotion are represented by color choice. Owning a color is key to separating your brand from the competition.

Shape
Shape is the second item recognized by the human brain. Something about the shape of your product, logo, and/or package design must be imprinted onto your customers mind to build a lasting relationship with your brand. Don’t discount the power shape has on the success of your marketing piece. Brands like Coke, Nike, P&G and McDonald’s use the strengths of shape to win the first seconds of recognition and sell more because of it.

Numbers
Numbers are the third items recognized by the human brain. Wherever possible use quick reading numbers in your callouts. They are less abstract than words, therefore are more powerful. They can help you direct customers to specific areas on your marketing piece. Where possible link a simple number to your product. It can help distinct you from competition or imposters.

Words
Words are much more abstract that color, shape and numbers making it harder for the human brain to recognize. To recognize words the brain must interrupt what it is currently doing, engage and differentiate between other words before it recognizes it. To win the first few seconds of decision making words are the least effective of these tools. To strengthen this inherent weakness use power words, avoid tragic words and always us a compelling headline. To win at marketing you must successfully interrupt, engage, educate and to make a compelling offer, one your customer can’t refuse!

The Psychology of a Customer
The hierarchy of recognition is one of many points to consider when developing a marketing piece. Make sure your marketing team, be they in-house employees or professional consultants know as much as you, if not more, about your customers and what motivates them to take action and make purchases from you. There are many skilled marketers and designers out there but few know and understand the vital marketing skill of selling.

Weigh their ability to sell as high as any other part of their resume or you may get a beautiful piece that cannot sell.

These tips are taken from the booklet How-to Get Your Customers to Pay More and Do it Happily with Direct Marketing! Volume 5. For a free .pdf of volume I, with 25 such direct marketing tips and checklist send an email to danis@ifmarketing.com. I’ll gladly send you a copy.

What Should You Ask In An Interview?

“Your Customers Are Your #1 Asset!”
—DCF

In developing the Circle of Marketing these are some of the questions I feel need to be incorporated into your interviews.

Questions to ask potential employees:
1. Share with me an example where you have used your abilities on the job to define a problem with a guide. And how did you solve it?

2. Tell me of a time where you challenged prevailing assumptions and asked hard questions to facilitate change.

3. Do you have the ability to work in a team environment without guidance? Share with me one such experience.

4. Describe a time where you worked by yourself to accomplish a project—a project where you took full responsibility for its completion.

5. Tell me of a time where you have successfully persuaded others to adopt your point of view.

6. Discuss a situation where you have shown the ability to conceptualize and reorganize information into new patterns.

7. Describe the process you would go through to gain a through knowledge of a subject.

8. Explain in detail something that you are an expert at.

9. Show me examples where you have committed yourself to the pursuit of lifelong learning?

10. Discuss the last book you read. What impact did it have on your life?

11. What was the last thing you wrote? Why did you write it?

12. What have you done to improve your leadership skills?

13. How have you worked on your speaking &/or presentation skills? Share a few examples of each.

14. Show your ability to use inductive reasoning. Reasoning from detailed facts to general principles.

15. Show your ability to use deductive reasoning. Reasoning from the general to the particular (or from cause to effect).

16. How have you been a mentor towards someone else?

17. How do you show your public virtue—the voluntary sacrifice of personal comforts or benefits for the good of the community?

18. How often do you set goals? And how often do you review your goals?

19. What are some of your passions? How do you pursue them?

20. What are some of the most important commitments you have made in your life? How do they effect your daily decisions?

21. How will your boss describe you when I talk to him?


“Look for someone who strongly believes in something.” Dr Kary Mullis


A number of these questions are modified from A Thomas Jefferson Education, Oliver DeMille, George Wythe College

This is a work in progress.

Here is a link to some good questions from Career Builder that go alone these lines.

Initiative - You Can't Grow Without it!

“Employees with initiative are needed, they are needed badly. They are needed in every business in America. They are needed because they find solutions for the problems pointed out by the merely ambitious. They are the glue that hold a business together.”
—Roy H. Williams, The Wizard of Ads, p. 92

“Always be quick to forgive the employee whose initiative causes you trouble. In the final analysis, this person is a gift from heaven.”
—Roy H. Williams, The Wizard of Ads, p. 93

How To Make An Impact On Your Business!

Impact
The person with these skills will make an impact on your business. They will help you and your customers. Remember if you are hiring young people, they may have some of these skills but they will be in development. You will need to mentor them to focus their passions and skills to work the way you need them to, for now and into their future. You can do it. They need you to be a mentor every bit as much as you need them as an employee, and so do your customers.

The person who possesses these seven skills knows how to make change happen. By the way we educate people in our public school system though, they most likely don’t know that they have these skill. They have been squelched or even negated. But know this, these are the skills you need in your employees. These and only these are the skills needed to make thing happen. These are the skills of leadership. Without these skills you may get someone who will come to work because they need the money but you won’t get someone who will go out of their way for you or your customers. You need employees that will “run through walls for you.”1

I’m sure that you can imagine what you can accomplish if you have employees that will “run through walls for you,” especially if you have or have had warm bodies working for you.

1 Tom Gegax

Take from the Special Report #4 How to Get Someone Qualified! Found at The Image Foundry

How Do You Find Passion?

Passion
If you ask the question, “What are some of your passions?,” you will begin to see how this person will perform while working for you. If their passions have taken them far and wide they will do the same for you. Even if they are young, as they share their passions you will begin to see how these questions reveal more than the questions you’ve been asking.

You will begin to see what this person is capable of and what they have done and will do to achieve it. They will be able to move mountains for you. Satisfy your customers. Help new employees and even motivate others to excel.

Following questions will help you draw out more on how their passions govern their actions.

1. Show me examples where you have committed yourself to the pursuit of lifelong learning?
2. Describe the process you would go through to gain a through knowledge of a subject.
3. Explain in detail something that you are an expert at.
4. Tell me of a time where you have successfully persuaded others to adopt your point of view.
5. Tell me about two memorable projects, one success and one failure. To what do you attribute the success and failure?

Take from the Special Report #4 How to Get Someone Qualified! Found at The Image Foundry

How Do You Find Commitment?

Commitment
If you’ve been successful in determining whether your candidate has the skills that make a person of action by this point you’ve been though a lot already. Next you’ll want to determine what their commitments in life are.

Commitment is an essential skill if you are looking for someone who can make an impact on your business and on your customers. Lets explore what commitment is for a moment so I can impress upon you how important this skill is.

Commitment is having a sound set of beliefs and faithfully adhering to them with ones actions or behaviors. Inquire about the commitments your interviewee has had in their life. Ask questions that show how they have supported their beliefs by improving themselves or their actions. You can start by finding out what their commitment is to self-improvement. Ask questions such as:

1. How do you improve your skills?
2. What are some of the most important commitments you have made in your life?
3. How do these commitments effect your daily decisions?
4. What do you do in the community?
5. What are some of your passions? How do you pursue them?

As you can imagine, the answers you get to these types of questions will show a lot about the persons commitments or lack their of. Never the less, such answers will give you confidence in this person or not.

Those who are truly committed show a deliberate emphasis on continual self-improvement.


Take from the Special Report #4 How to Get Someone Qualified! Found at The Image Foundry

How Do You Find Integrity?

Integrity
You will be able to tell the integrity of most people by the way they describe the things they do or have done. As explored in those whose allegiance is to good they have experiences that have helped them develop more character; making them a better candidate.

Inquire as to the character of the person you are interviewing. Ask what they would do in certain situation? Ask for examples where they have done such.

Ask questions to determine if they are flexible, positive and have a can-do attitude. Do they make excuses for mistakes made? Do they do a great job every time? And do they genuinely try not to make mistakes?

Do they and how do they ensure that they remember every detail of what they are supposed to do? One way to help your employees with this is to provide a detailed job description—a living document that can be added to by you and the employee.

Will they be part of the solution, not the problem? Are they a team worker and will they be on time ready to work every day? You need to let them know these things are required of you. And find out what their stand on gossip is! This is a no-no and must not be tolerated in any form.

As you can see, there is a lot to consider. The consequences are expensive if you make a wrong decision. Spend the time needed to develop documentation that you can give to your potential employees before the come in for an interview. This will help you get more qualified candidates.

NOTE: See Special Report #5 — The Top 10 Employee Essentials. In my classes, “Excellence In The Workplace” basic training classes, I teach the following employee skill that every employee must master.

The Top 10 Employee Essentials
1. Attitude of Gratitude 6. Ask Engaging Questions
2. Service 7. Build Value
3. Eye Contact 8. Schmooze
4. Communicate 9. Adopt a Positive Attitude
5. Be a Good Listener 10. Never Gossip About Others

Commitment is a byproduct of the person who shows integrity.

Take from the Special Report #4 How to Get Someone Qualified! Found at The Image Foundry

Initiative - You'll Have To Teach It

Initiative
If you’ve ever hired an employee without initiative, you know that most of the money you paid that employee was wasted. You spent all too much time telling your employees what to do when they are doing nothing. “Why can’t they just do the things that they need to do and be productive?” you say to yourself over and over again.

All to many people underestimate the power initiative has in an average days work until you’ve gone through this scenario.

There are many reasons why employees don’t step up and do the work that is needed. The biggest is because in many cases they have not been taught how to take the initiative and therefore can’t without being taught how to do it.

One way to overcome it in your current employees is to create a detailed job description, which lays out in clear details what is expected of them. I clearly remember my second job in high school. My boss told me that the most important thing to do was to never let the customers wait to pay. So I hovered by the cash register.

He never told me his second most important job function…. So after two weeks he wanted to fire me because I was just standing by the cash register. Even though I thought that was what I was supposed to do. I was wrong. I didn’t know that I was supposed to use my initiative.

After we had a talk, another employee told me “Don’t just stand there, look busy. Sweep, dust, arrange, clean and/or organize.” Oh, then I got the big picture. I learned his system. It would have been much easier if he had it documented.

As you talk to potential employees, listen for instances where the interviewee showed his/her initiative. Ask questions that will bring this out. Some examples are:

1. Tell me of a time when you used your initiative and worked independently to either create a plan or make something positive happen?
2. Discuss a situation where you have shown your ability to conceptualize an idea[s] and reorganize information into new patterns.
3. In your last job, what kind of things did you do when you were slow? What kind of things were you supposed to do?
4. When you saw someone doing what they weren't supposed to do what did you do?
5. Did your company have a suggestion box? What type of suggestions did you put into the suggestions box?

Or you can give a scenario and ask what they would do in that situation.

Initiative is the first skill to look for in a successful employee.


Take from the Special Report #4 How to Get Someone Qualified! Found at The Image Foundry

How Do You Find Ingenuity?

Ingenuity
Inventive or resourceful employees are worth their weight in gold. They are clever and imaginative and will work at a problem until they can solve it. Work is where this skill is needed at all times.

If your employees deal with your customers - every customer needs a problem solved. What happens when an employee doesn’t have this skill? You will most likely loose the customer. And lost customers will cost you your business.

Consider the following:
1. High Concept1 – The capacity to detect patterns and opportunities, to create artistic and emotional beauty, to craft a satisfying narrative, and to combine seemingly unrelated ideas into something new.

2. High Touch2 – The ability to empathize with others, to understand the subtleties of human interaction, to find joy in one’s self and to elicit it in others, and to stretch the quotidian [daily routine] in pursuit of purpose and meaning.

These are the skills of those with ingenuity. These are the skills you need your employees to have! These are the skills you really need to be looking for in an employee.

Ask questions like the following to help find employees with ingenuity.
1. Share with me an example where you have used your abilities on the job to define a problem that you saw. And how did you solve it?
2. Tell me of a time where you challenged prevailing assumptions and asked hard questions to facilitate change.
3. Describe a time where you worked by yourself to accomplish a project—a project where you took full responsibility for its completion.
4. Tell me about a time when you had to go above and beyond to get a job done.
5. What was a major obstacle you were able to overcome in the past year?

Prize the employee with ingenuity, they provide the passion that keep customers coming back.


Take from the Special Report #4 How to Get Someone Qualified! Found at The Image Foundry

1 & 2 Daniel Pink, A Hole New Mind